LAST BLOG!!!!!!!

Doing blogs was definitely an interesting way to do assignments this semester. I learned a lot from doing blogs because before hand I really knew nothing much about them. As for my favorite topics there were several. First I loved talking about all the specific cases we did and how the media could shape and influence people on them. Such as the Scopes Monkey Trail, the Mendez Brothers, Peterson and etc. It was very interesting to me the power the media has that I never realized. I also liked the discussion and readings on Satanism and the Satanic Day Cares. It was insane some of the rituals that were mentioned and just mind jogging. Those were some of my favorite discussions but again I really liked them all. It is hard to pick one I didn't like but if I had to I would have to say it was the discussion on the Disney movies where they were saying the movies were racist and sexist. To me this is ridiculous. I think this is people with nothing better to do than whine and complain about nothing. Just people wanting to make a fuss. THESE ARE JUST KIDS MOVIES! Like Dr. Castle said her dad did he didn't agree with the whole Disney thing so he just kept his child away. He didn't go out publicly bashing it. Other people should do the same, if you don't like it than don't watch it and don't ruin it for the rest. This whole topic blew me away. A topic I would like to see expanded is how the media can shape how we see certain ethnic groups. Such as making every muslim a terrorist. This is a touchly subject because on the one hand its not really fair to think of all muslims as terrorist, but on the other they have been a majority and doesn't the government need to make us aware to protect their citizens? I think this is something worth discussing more. Other than that I thought everything was covered sufficiently. Now if I were to have a class such as ours I would think I would focus it on every media outlet like we did. Whether its radio, movies, tv, newspapers, magazines, and etc. To show how the media can really influence justice. I would picture it like our class and the way we did it. I guess I would also used a lot of big cases and see how the media greatly influenced them in one way or another. Thats it for the last blog, this was an interesting way to do assignments but I must say im glad its done!

Bad Boys 2

 One of my all time favorite movies is Bad Boys 2. I think it is hilarious and action packed. In this movie and the first Bad Boys there is a lot of justice issues present. However, I believe that in the second movie is focused around drug smuggling and money laundering. The movie takes place in Miami and South Beach, Florida, as well as some surrounding areas. The main boss in this drug ring is Cuban and that is where he is smuggling his drugs and money to and from. The drug he is running is Ecstasy. This Cuban mobster smuggles the drugs and money in and out of the country by using a funeral home and service. He hides the drugs and money in the coffins and in the dead human bodies. The two main law enforcement officers on this case have made their goal to dismantle this drug ring. This is no easy task for the officers, the drug ring is tremendously well thought out and has a lot of people involved to help keep it under radar. Think how you want to but to me this way of smuggling drugs and money is extremely interesting to me. If you haven't seen this money I highly recommend it. It has everything you could think of in it and is hands down at the top of my list.

Here is the movie trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzO1IOjhMBY

This is a funny scene-WATCH THIS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4pIJtt48g4

Eminem ft. Rihanna-Love The Way You Lie

Right away when I read this assignment the first thing I thought of were songs by one of my all time favorite artist, Eminem. Most of his songs are about all kinds of justice issues, but one particular stood out more than all the others. This song is off his newest album Recovery, its with Rihanna and called Love The Way You Lie. It has to do domestic violence/abuse. Its lyrics are as follows:

Just gonna stand there
And watch me burn
But that's alright
Because I like
The way it hurts
Just gonna stand there
And hear me cry
But that's alright
Because I love
The way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

I can't tell you what it really is
I can only tell you what it feels like
And right now there's a steel knife
In my windpipe
I can't breathe
But I still fight
While I can fight
As long as the wrong feels right
It's like I'm in flight
High of a love
Drunk from the hate
It's like I'm huffing paint
And I love it the more that I suffer
I sufficate
And right before im about to drown
She resuscitates me
She fucking hates me
And I love it
Wait
Where you going
I'm leaving you
No you ain't
Come back
We're running right back
Here we go again
It's so insane
Cause when it's going good
It's going great
I'm Superman
With the wind in his bag
She's Lois Lane
But when it's bad
It's awful
I feel so ashamed
I snap
Who's that dude
I don't even know his name
I laid hands on her
I'll never stoop so low again
I guess I don't know my own strength

Just gonna stand there
And watch me burn
But that's alright
Because I like
The way it hurts
Just gonna stand there
And hear me cry
But that's alright
Because I love
The way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

You ever love somebody so much
You can barely breathe
When you're with them
You meet
And neither one of you
Even know what hit 'em
Got that warm fuzzy feeling
Yeah them chills
Used to get 'em
Now you're getting fucking sick
Of looking at 'em
You swore you've never hit 'em
Never do nothing to hurt 'em
Now you're in each other's face
Spewing venom
And these words
When you spit 'em
You push
Pull each other's hair
Scratch, claw, bit 'em
Throw 'em down
Pin 'em
So lost in the moments
When you're in 'em
It's the rage that took over
It controls you both
So they say it's best
To go your separate ways
Guess that they don't know ya
Cause today
That was yesterday
Yesterday is over
It's a different day
Sound like broken records
Playin' over
But you promised her
Next time you'll show restraint
You don't get another chance
Life is no Nintendo game
But you lied again
Now you get to watch her leave
Out the window
Guess that's why they call it window pane

Just gonna stand there
And watch me burn
But that's alright
Because I like
The way it hurts
Just gonna stand there
And hear me cry
But that's alright
Because I love
The way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

Now I know we said things
Did things
That we didn't mean
And we fall back
Into the same patterns
Same routine
But your temper's just as bad
As mine is
You're the same as me
But when it comes to love
You're just as blinded
Baby please come back
It wasn't you
Baby it was me
Maybe our relationship
Isn't as crazy as it seems
Maybe that's what happens
When a tornado meets a volcano
All I know is
I love you too much
To walk away though
Come inside
Pick up your bags off the sidewalk
Don't you hear sincerity
In my voice when I talk
Told you this is my fault
Look me in the eyeball
Next time I'm pissed
I'll aim my fist
At the dry wall
Next time
There will be no next time
I apologize
Even though I know it's lies
I'm tired of the games
I just want her back
I know I'm a liar
If she ever tries to fucking leave again
I'mma tie her to the bed
And set the house on fire

Just gonna stand there
And watch me burn
But that's alright
Because I like
The way it hurts
Just gonna stand there
And hear me cry
But that's alright
Because I love
The way you lie
I love the way you lie
I love the way you lie

 The reason I picked this song is one because I believe it is a great music video and very powerful. Two the fact that Rihanna sings in it I believe is also powerful after the domestic abuse she suffered in the hands of Chris Brown. Finally I think this song holds a lot of truth in it about domestic violence. In the lyrics you can see where after a fights the man says he is sorry and that it will never happen again. The woman wants to leave but can't, she becomes trapped and never gets out. Hearing the words from him sounds great, but in reality she knows its a lie and it is just a vicious cycle that the couple lives in. I feel that this is a huge problem in our society woman get in extremely abusive relationships and they become trapped in them. They realized its a bad situation, and no matter who tries to reach out to help more often than not it doesn't help until something terribly bad happens. By then it is very possible it's too late. Watch the video below and listen to the lyrics and hopefully you too will see how this song reveals in a powerful way how abusive/violent domestic relationships occur in our society.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U&ob=av3e

Suicide

I thought this presentation brought a lot of attention to me about suicide. To be honest it something that I never really ever thought about. To me, the most important thing of the whole presentation was all the statistics and facts she gave us on suicide. Several stood out to me, such as 80% of people think about suicide at one point in their lifetime. This clearly shows that this is something that crosses majority of people's minds and is a topic people should be aware of and know about. Also I found it amazing that at any given time 5% of people are considering suicide. Finally, the fact that our age group 18-25 has the most suicides out of any other group. With all these facts I find it extremely important that we all be conscious of suicides and everything that comes along with it. I think we should all know how to spot a suicidal person, and how to respond to it and what to do. Her presentation had a lot of helpful information in all of these areas. Overall I thought it was a great presentation on something we should all know and acknowledge as something that is prevalent in our societies. However, do to the fact that is was so full with information it got to be a little much. At the same time this is a subject that should to covered to the fullest so I guess there is just no way to shorten or sweeten it. Besides this is information that will never go bad and you never know maybe some day one of us will be able to put it to use. Hopefully not on ourselves but instead to help someone else in a time of need.

Sex Offenders on Halloween

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-10-30/news/os-halloween-sex-offenders-20101029_1_offenders-state-probation-officers-law-enforcement

 I am sure most people would think sex offenders (especially pedophiles and people of that status) go crazy on the night of Halloween. All these little kids running around in costumes asking for candy probably drives them crazy. As sick and disgusting as this is in reality it is a fact and happens. This article I found is about what Florida police officials are doing to keep sex offenders under wrap during this fun night for young children. The article starts by saying that this year's trick-or-treaters will have some company this Halloween. As a state-wide crackdown Florida police forces are going to be going door to door to register sex offenders houses making sure they are following their specific rules for this given night. Among the rules are: sex offenders are prohibited from passing out candy, decorating their homes or even having their porch lights on, and they are not even allowed to open their doors to children. In the article it is stated that if anything of these rules are violated the sex offender will be arrested immediately on the spot. The author states that police will be visible and present in neighborhoods. There is said to be over 55,000 registered sexual predators and offenders in the state of Florida. This operation is targeting around 10,000 of them especially. These 10,000 are the ones who are still under supervision of the state. They advise parents to look up registered offenders and predators in their local areas and be aware. Police will keep their eye on all the registered houses in their specific zones of patrol, but in the end it comes down to responsible parents watching after their kids. I believe that this is necessary actions that need to be taken on this holiday given that children are out everywhere. It would be a pedophiles field day otherwise. So I am glad that Florida police are making this effort. By doing this hopefully they stop something that may have happened previously.

Beyond Sorry

 Again this week I went to the Wednesday night movie were we watched the documentary of "Beyond Sorry." This movie took place an a extremely rural area in Australia. You could think of these people almost as like Native Americans here in the United States. One day a white man came to their villages and acted as though he was asking the adults about something. When in reality he was counting all the children. He later returned with other men and took all the children from these villages. Once taken these children were sent away and basically had their previous culture literally beaten out of them. Every single piece of their culture from the past they were forced to forget. Finally, decades later these children that were taken wanted to come back home. I want to say it was about 43 years later. Not all of the children did because it was their forgotten past and they had their own families now. However the ones that did had an emotional ride in front of them. When they returned they were not welcomed back with open arms. Their real blood mothers were told that all their children were dead, and in this particular culture mothers and families are forbidden to talk about deceased children. So the families were in shock and denial. However, they families would finally come along but it was not an easy process. This documentary features a group of children from this awful time period and situation. Mainly it focuses on this one woman Zita and her story. She wanted to actually come back and embrace her past family and culture. It really shows the struggles she went through in being accepted back in. In the end she was able to gain relationships back and even moved back into her original homeland with her husband, even though she already had a family of her own. During the discussion we talked about and compared how here in the United States we had the same events happen with the Native Americans. The Native Americans children were taken and had their culture beat out of them until they had completely forgotten. Over all this was a very interesting documentary. 

In the Wake of the Bounty

 Instead of the actual Blog Assignment I am writing about the film I watched last Wednesday called, "In the Wake of the Bounty." It was an interesting story and I had a hard time following at points but I will try to summarize the best I can. I may also butcher some spelling but I will try. Basically the "Bounty" is a ship that was sailing to Tahiti. The captain of the ship was very ruthless and not liked. Once the ship reached Tahiti they docked for a few days their with a local tribe. While there the crew fell in love with the girls on the island. So when they left the crew was extremely sad leaving the girls behind. However, shortly after leaving the angry sailors led by Fletcher Christian had a mutiny and rose up against the hated captain and overthrew him. The crew now running the ship returned to Tahiti where some stayed and some continued on with Christian until they reached an island south of Tahiti called Pictarn Island. They stayed on Pictarn Island from there on. This was the interesting part. The movie had actual documentary footage from 1933 on Pictarn Island. They even had descendants of the crew members from the Bounty in the footage. They describe the island as like an Utopia, where things were almost perfect. One day a steamer boat comes dropping more people off onto the island. Here on the island people shared everything from work, to chores, and food in order to survive. Kids only attended school for 2 hours before breakfast, and played the rest of the day. The society was a strong believer in being in good shape and healthy. Boats were a very important part of the culture. The society had goats and horses for various reasons. They also had marriage in their culture. The movie ends with a newborn baby becoming ill and slowly dying away. They need help from an outside ship and begin calling. Unfortunately, that ship never arrives. With the actual footage from the island this was an compelling movie to watch from its time. I also learned how these people were able to start their own society and were able to uphold it on their beliefs.